BOOK VIII. 1857. May 14. borough regarding Gwáliár in 1844. Excellent results of his policy. 152 PRESCIENCE OF LORD ELLENBOROUGH. annex it, as Lord Dalhousie, under precisely similar circumstances, did, six years later, annex the Panjab. He might confiscate a portion of it, just as four years later Lord Hardinge acted with regard to Jalandhar. He might lay upon it a heavy contribution in the shape of money. But Lord Ellenborough was a prescient statesman. He did none of these things. On the contrary, he conceived that it might be possible by a generous treatment of the fallen State so to bind it to the British that it might become a source of strength to our empire. To the minor Mahárájá, of whose infancy his counsellors had taken advantage to provoke the war, Lord Ellenborough restored, then, the whole of his patrimony. But his army he disbanded. In place of it he raised another army, to be administered by British officers, but to be at the charge of the State of Gwáliár. He placed at the same time near the person of the Mahárájá a Resident, whose duty it should be to watch over and counsel the youthful monarch. This generous policy produced all the results which had been hoped for it by its author. The Mahárájá, as he grew up and studied the history of the past, recognised in the British Government the Suzerain to whom he was bound by considerations alike of gratitude and of interest. He resolved frankly to recognise their supremacy, and to take up the position assigned to him-that of being one of the main pillars of the British Empire of Hindústán. When, therefore, the in his lot with Mírath revolt became known at Gwáliár, the Sindia re solves to cast the British. Mahárájá unhesitatingly resolved to cast in his lot with his Suzerain. The very fact of his being a native of India had given him a more complete insight into the secret reasons which prompted the revolt than could be claimed by any European. He was conscious that the dominant power was about to encounter a shock, which would tax all their resources, and which might terminate fatally for them. At the very time, then, when the LieutenantGovernor of the North-West Provinces was congratulating himself, and was assuring the Supreme Government of his belief that the two native infantry regiments stationed at A'gra would remain quiescent, Sindia, well assured that the entire native army was undermined, was warning the political agent at his court that the disaffection was universal, and that the men of his own contingent would, sooner or later, follow the example of the regular army. The ideas which Mr. Colvin had apparently imbibed at this time regarding the mutiny had taken the shape of a conviction that, far from being caused by the spontaneous action of the sepoys, it was a movement prompted by the Court of Dehlí. He considered it, then, very important to enlist on the side of the British those races which, in former times, had been most antagonistic to the representative of the Moghol dynasty, and whose timely support might, at this critical moment, influence the sepoys. Of these there were two in close proximity to A'gra-the Maráthás represented by Gwáliár; the Játs, enthroned at Bha BOOK VIII 1857. May 14. He recognises the gravity of the crisis. Mr. Colvin applies to for aid, BOOK VIII. 1857. ratpúr. To both of these, then, Mr. Colvin applied at once for material assistance. The re May 14-20. plies were favourable. Sindia at once despatched which is given. News arrives of the revolt at Aligarh. Aligarh. Effect pro duced there to A'gra a battery of six guns, commanded by Captain Pearson, and Captain Alexander's regiment of cavalry, followed, a little later, by Captain Burlton's regiment. On the part of Bharatpur Captain Nixon was sent to occupy the station of Mathurá with a detachment of infantry. But this timely assistance in no way retarded the quick approach of the evil which had been fore-shadowed. On the 21st news reached A'gra that the native troops at Aligarh had mutinied. By this revolt direct communication with Mírath was cut off. It deserves, therefore, to be recorded in full detail. The station of Aligarh lies on the grand trunk road, not quite midway between the cities of A'gra and Mírath, being distant about eighty miles from the latter, and fifty from the former. It possesses a bastioned fort, well capable of defence, and memorable in Indian history as having been the scene of the first of the many effective blows dealt by Lord Lake at the Maráthá power in 1803. In May 1857, the fort was not occupied, but the station was garrisoned by four companies of the 9th Regiment of Native Infantry-a regiment which bore a very high character, and which, it was pretty generally believed, would prove faithful, even should all the others mutiny. The events of the 10th of May, at Mírath, had by the Mírath naturally been reported at Aligarh; but the story had had no effect on the outward behaviour of the revolt. CALM ATTITUDE OF THE SEPOYS. BOOK VIII. 1857. May 14-20. 155 men of the 9th. Rumours of disorder in the district having subsequently reached the commanding officer a detachment of the regiment was sent out to ascertain the truth. The detachment returned at the end of two days, having found the rumours greatly exaggerated. And although it was stated that as they marched through the town to the regimental parade-ground the butchers had endeavoured to work upon the minds of the sepoys and to induce them to revolt and shoot their officers, still the fact remained that they had not revolted, and that they had not shown the smallest sign of disaffection. On the contrary, both at that time and subse- Apparent quently, the sepoys delivered up to their officers of the sepoys. men who had entered their lines to seduce them from their allegiance. calm attitude the Brahman. It happened, however, that one of the men thus Incident of delivered over to justice was a Brahman who had acted as the agent of some villagers in the neighbourhood. This man had imagined a plot, whereby, under cover of the noise and excitement of a simulated marriage procession, the European officers might be murdered, and the money in the treasury, amounting to about £70,000, secured for the revolters. The Brahman, caught in the act, was tried by native officers, and condemned to be hanged on the evening of the same day, the 20th. On that evening the native troops were drawn up, and in their presence the sentence was read to the condemned prisoner. The latter was then taken to the gallows, the rope was adjusted, the cart was taken away. During the whole of Book VIII. 1857. May 20. The spark which ignited the powder. Balandshahr. Mainpúrí. these proceedings the sepoys had maintained their usual passive demeanour. Suddenly, however, one of their number, bolder than his comrades, stepped forth from the ranks, and pointing to the dangling corpse, exclaimed: "Behold a martyr to our religion!" This exclamation touched in the heart of the sepoys a chord which had till then lain dormant. As if struck by the wand of a magician, these men-who had passed the sentence and had assisted at the execution-broke out into open mutiny. They dismissed their officers, unharmed; but they compelled them and all other Europeans at the place to quit Aligarh.* They then plundered the treasury, opened the gates of the jail, and went off bodily to Dehlí. This occurred on the 20th of May. There were detachments of the same regiment, the 9th Native Infantry, at Balandshahr, at Etáwá, and at Mainpúrí. To these stations information of the revolt at Aligarh, promptly conveyed, produced the natural result. At Balandshahr, the outbreak was attended by no violence. The sepoys simply plundered the treasury and went off. The case was different at Mainpúrí and at Etáwá. Mainpúrí lies seventy-one miles to the eastward of A'gra. The detachment of the 9th Native Amongst these were Lady Europeans, led by Mr. Wat Outram, wife of Sir James son, C.S., took the road to Outram, and their son, Mr. Agra, escorted by a party of Francis Outram, of the Civil the cavalry of the Gwáliár Service. Lady Outram suc- Contingent. Their adventures ceeded in reaching Agra in belong to a part of this history safety, and without molesta- yet to be related. tion. Mr. Outram, and other |